Money and Credit - February 2018

Our monthly Money and Credit statistical release is made up of three parts: broad money and credit, lending to individual and lending to businesses.

Published on
29 March 2018

Key points from the data to the end of February 2018 include:

Part one: Broad money and credit

Broad money decreased by £0.7 billion in February (Table A). Within this, the flow of private non-financial corporations' (PNFCs') M4 was £1.9 billion (Table C), broadly in line with the recent average. The flow of households' M4 was £0.3 billion, taking the 12-month growth rate to 2.4% (Table B), the lowest since November 2011.

The net flow of sterling credit continued to be weak in February at -£2.3 billion (Table A). Within this, however, the flow for households was broadly stable at £3.7 billion (Table B). The net sterling credit to PNFCs was £1.7bn, well above the recent average.

Part two: Lending to individuals

Annual growth in secured lending was unchanged at 3.3% in February (Table H) and net lending was in line with the previous six-month average at £3.7 billion.

Mortgage approvals continue to be volatile and have fallen below their previous six-month average (Table I) for both house purchase and remortgaging in February, to 63,910 and 46,622 respectively.

The annual growth rate for consumer credit ticked up slightly to 9.4% (Table J), although net lending remains broadly in line with its previous six-month average.

Part three: Lending to businesses

PNFCs raised £2.7 billion from UK MFIs and Capital Markets in February, with the main contribution from Commercial Paper issuance at £3.0 billion (Table L). This increase was partly offset by a weak net bond issuance (-£2.0 billion).

Borrowing by non-financial businesses from MFIs increased by £3.6 billion in February (Table M). Net lending to SMEs has increased following a rather weak January.

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